


The Memory Book

by ceisadilla



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Background Relationships, Multi, Past AusHun, Past PruHun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-14
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-01-24 20:08:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1615499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceisadilla/pseuds/ceisadilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were rumours about the swim team, and the gymnastics team, the predominant one being that there was a deep seated rivalry between Elizaveta and Natalia. Both girls were fiercely competitive, and there had always been a bit of tension between the two clubs, so it was to be expected that a rivalry would come naturally. The truth about the two was much more surprising.</p><p>Warning for some homophobic slurs, some minor drug use... I think that's it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Summer had met its end once again, and high school commenced as if it had never ended. Elizaveta Héderváry had been made swim team captain, as its eldest and most accomplished member, while Natalia Arlovskaya was now the captain of the gymnastics team, for similar reasons. There were rumours about the swim team, and the gymnastics team, the predominant one being that there was a deep seated rivalry between Elizaveta and Natalia. Both girls were fiercely competitive, and there had always been a bit of tension between the two clubs, so it was to be expected that a rivalry would come naturally. The truth about the two was much more surprising.

It was Thursday on the first week of the new school year. Elizaveta had gone home after school, and had already made dinner by four o’clock. It just had to simmer on the stove for a while. Checking the time on her phone, the seventeen year old quickly made her way to her bedroom to make sure things were in order. She was interrupted when the shrill ring of the doorbell echoed through the house. With a grin, Elizaveta went back through the narrow hallway, and whistled for the three barking dogs to back away before she answered the door.

“Happy Senior year,” she greeted Natalia.  
“And a very merry Senior year to you,” Natalia replied, adjusting her hold of her rather bulky handbag, and moving to pet Bianka, who had squeezed past Elizaveta, and was wagging her tail excitedly. “Shall we cut out these stupid greetings and get to the point?”   
Elizaveta rolled her eyes, but moved aside to let Natalia into her house, before she shut the door behind her. “Come on, surely you missed our important meetings while you were away?” she insisted as she followed Natalia, both girls headed to Elizaveta’s room.  
“Of course I did, visiting our parents is never fun.”  
“No cute boys? Or girls?”  
Natalia’s scoff was enough of an answer.

They settled on the floor on Elizaveta’s room. There was no need to offer a drink; Natalia had carried her own bottle of water for heaven’s knows how long. Natalia opened the bag, and took out a thick scrapbook, half filled with photos, ticket stubs, and a huge variety of other memories.   
“Do you have your summer photo?” Natalia asked, opening the book to the next clean double page while Elizaveta went to her desk, and picked up the photo Natalia asked for.  
“Sure do,” she replied, passing it to Natalia so she could examine it.

“Did you have fun with Gilbert?” Natalia asked, looking at the smiling faces of Elizaveta and her ex-boyfriend, Gilbert. She took a glue stick from her bag, and began to apply glue to the first open page.  
“Yeah, it was good. We were together almost everyday. It was like when we were kids.”  
Natalia nodded, carefully pressing the photo onto the page.  
“Hm. Are you dating him again?”  
“No. He brought it up, but I don’t want something like that again. It was fun while it lasted, but I just don’t feel that way about him,” she reasoned.  
“Fair enough,” Natalia agreed, turning the book, and handing Elizaveta a pack of gel pens. Liz took the green pen, and wrote a caption beneath in large, bubbly handwriting. 

‘We fought for twenty minutes over whose camera we would use. A passing fifteen year old took the photo for us. Who the fuck has a Polaroid?It’s 2013?’

Natalia grinned at the caption, and took her own photo from her bag, passing it and the glue stick to Elizaveta, who barked with laughter the second she saw the picture. As opposed to the smiles in Elizaveta’s picture, Natalia’s was a selfie, featuring the ugliest, most disgusted face the girl could manage.

“That bad?” Elizaveta giggled, preparing the page with glue.  
“Yeah. ‘Oh, Natalia, you are so thin!’ ‘Natalia, do not eat so much, you need to keep your figure!’ ‘Natalia, why do you not have a boyfriend? You’re not one of those lesbians?!’ I could go on, but fuck that.” Natalia sighed heavily, picking up the blue pen, ready for her caption.  
“When my relatives ask about if I have a boyfriend, my daddy talks about his boyfriends instead. It’s much more interesting than my stories, and his are graphic, so the conversation gets changed.”  
Natalia laughed, and took the book, writing her caption beneath her picture.

‘I’ll eat all the fucking ice cream I want, it’s 30°C!’

“Great. Decorate the pages?”  
“Obviously.”

Elizaveta and Natalia had spread the rumours about them hating each other, and being rivals. It was funny to them, and they’d kept it up throughout high school. They’d been best friends since Natalia moved with her family at the start of middle school, and every Thursday, they would go to one of their houses, talk about the week, their plans for the weekend, boys, girls, anything that took their interest. At the start of high school, they bought a scrapbook, and used it to keep their memories. Everything was in it, from weekend plans, to embarrassing stories. They had maintained it every Thursday, except for holidays, when either of them, though probably Natalia, could be away. Maintaining the book was a way to relax, to have fun, get creative with the pages, talk, and forget about school and other problems for a couple of hours.

‘Summer 2013’ had been lightly sketched across the top of the double page by Natalia, and both girls filled the bubble letters with colour, using pens, glitter, and sequins, a small collection they both contributed to.  
“Any fun classes, then?” Elizaveta asked, arranging pink glitter on the number ‘3’. “Other than English, I know all about that class. I sit in the third row at the back, did you see me?”  
“Saw you, I even wrinkled my nose, and muttered ‘not that bitch’ to myself. I thought it was convincing.” Elizaveta nodded in agreement.   
“But yeah, not much to write home about. My drawing class is quite good, and I have a couple of classes with Gilbert, other than English. We sit together in Calculus… Oh, and guess who’s in my French class!”

Elizaveta frowned in thought.   
“Um… Oh, the guy you sit next in English? Eduard something?”  
“What? No. Roderich.”   
Elizaveta looked up.   
“Roderich? No way? He’s in my Statistics class.”   
Natalia smiled, colouring the first ‘M’ a light blue.  
“He sits next to me, the seating plan is alphabetical by surname, and it’s boy-girl tables. Roderich’s a nice enough guy.”   
The other girl rolled her eyes, and went back to her glitter.  
“Are you going to date my ex? That’s against the girl code,” she teased, earning a glower from Natalia.  
“That’d make every guy in school off-limits. And some of the girls.”  
“Fuck off.”  
“I don’t want to date Roderich anyway. Don’t need your sloppy seconds.

Elizaveta shrugged.  
“Speaking of boys, I saw a cute one.” Natalia’s interest was piqued, so Elizaveta continued. “You know how I’m doing swimming coaching after school on Wednesdays, right? Well, one of the girls who I mentor got picked up by her older brother, and he’s not too bad looking. Kind of awkward, but whatever. He looks about our age, kinda short, he’s got messy blond hair…” Natalia sat back from the book, watching Elizaveta absentmindedly glue sequins inside the letter ‘R’.   
“Don’t fall in love yet, slow down. You don’t even know his name.”  
“I know his sister’s name,” Elizaveta defended. “It’s Lili… something. It’s a weird n- Natalia, why are you staring at me like that?” She asked, finally meeting her friend’s wide eyed gaze.  
“Zwingli?” Natalia offered the surname, grinning as Elizaveta’s face fell into shock.  
“Yeah… Zwingli, how did you know?”  
“Dream boy is called Sebastien, but he prefers Basch. He’s seventeen, and he likes science and math. He has a little sister named Lili.” Elizaveta looked on in wonder as Natalia told her about the boy she spoke to for a minute the day before.  
“Holy shit, Sherlock. Deduce me his phone number next time. How the fuck did you find that out?” 

Natalia looked rather smug as she went back to her colouring.  
“He’s in my French class, and we had to introduce ourselves in French. ‘Bonjour, je m’appelle Basch. J’ai dix-sept ans. Mo-‘”  
“Oh my god, he doesn’t talk like that,” Elizaveta interrupted. “Your low voice is so dumb.”  
“Cry me a fucking river, Liz, you know the guy’s name, and you get to see him once a week,” the younger girl grinned. “Maybe you could ensnare him in your tentac- Don’t throw glitter at me, you bitch.”   
“My tentacles? Gross.” Elizaveta wrinkled her nose. “Are you staying for dinner?”  
“No. Yeka wants me home for dinner so I can tell her ‘all about my first day back, how exciting!’ Weirdo.”  
“She’s taking an interest, it’s cute. My daddy always asks what I’ve done at school, what I’m doing at the weekend, if I know any hot twinks…”  
“Liz, your dad is so illegal.”  
“He wouldn’t. Not with a minor, he knows better. There’s more he’d be arrested for, but we’re not talking about that.”   
Natalia nodded knowingly, sitting back again to admire their work.   
“Think we’ll fill this before the end of next summer?” Natalia asked, her thumb skimming the edges of the thick pages.  
“Yeah. If not, we can use it in our freshman year of college.” The girls quickly met eyes before looking away.  
“Yeah. The last page will need to be something special.

It took them a little time to finish the pages, decorating it with doodles and sequins, but it looked good. It was definitely ready to take them through the year.  
“Are you ready for senior year?” Natalia asked, as they sat next to each other, looking at the pictures, and their work.  
“Yeah, I am. It’ll be fun,” Elizaveta nodded slowly. “We’ve got charity days, prom, homecoming, parties where we can hang out under the pretence of being too drunk to care, loads of cool stuff. It’s gonna be brilliant.”   
“We have a study period tomorrow, want to go to the computer lab and email each other while we pretend to work?” Natalia suggested, smiling to herself as Elizaveta nodded quickly. “Great. I’m gonna leave the book here to dry, and you can deal with the glitter this time.”  
Natalia repacked her bag, leaving the book, as promised, and stood up, with Elizaveta following suit.

“Thought you’d have enough glitter in the house from your brother’s ice dancing outfits?”  
“He doesn’t do that anymore, he’s too busy in college.”   
Elizaveta sighed as they walked back through the house to the door.  
“Shame, he was good at it. Your brother is kinda hot.”   
Natalia turned on her heels, blonde hair swishing like a silken sheet.  
“Don’t say my brother’s hot. That is against the girl code!”  
“Kidding! Your brother has a big nose.”  
“So do I!”  
“Yeah but it’s cute on you. Get the fuck out of my house.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning in this chapter for a single use of a homophobic slur!

For Christmas last year, Elizaveta’s father had bought her a camera. It wasn’t a big, fancy one, but it was probably a little more than he could reasonably afford. She had been angry that he’d spent so much, but grateful that he had tried so hard for her. He’d always done more than enough for Elizaveta. She put some extra Pálinka in the dessert that Christmas.

Photography was something she had enjoyed for quite some time, so her father only felt it was right to get her something to support that passion. A large space of her wall was decorated in her favourite photos she had taken, and she posted lots more on a blog. She was pretty good at it, she felt, and so she took photography as a class, which hadn’t been a mistake.

 

It was Friday morning, the day after Elizaveta and Natalia had begun the final chapter of their book, and Elizaveta had her second photography class. Her friend, Gilbert, was in her photography class, which made it all the more interesting. The first class had been pretty boring, looking at the cameras they would be using for the class, and learning what every button did. Gilbert had helpfully labelled his own diagram with notes such as ‘twirly chooser’, and ‘don’t drop the camera, asshole’. Today, they were allowed to take their cameras around the school to get used to them. Their subject was ‘My School’, making the task really fucking easy, since it was all around them.

The pair made their way as slowly as they could to the library, and took seats at a nice, secluded table near the back. Gilbert watched Elizaveta as she played around with the camera, testing the the different settings by taking pictures of the shelved books, chairs, and anything else that took her eye. He allowed himself to indulge in the moment; it was rare to see her so focused on her activity.

 

“So, I saw Natalia leaving your house yesterday,” he grinned, absently playing with the camera's wrist strap. Sorry, the camera's ‘don’t drop the camera, asshole’.

“Shush,” she frowned, looking intently at the small screen on the camera. “You _know_ it's a secret.” Gilbert rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, sorry, you don't want people knowing you two are dykes.”

“'Lesbians', Gilbert. The word is 'lesbians'. Also, we're not lesbians. I'm bisexual, she's straight; we're not getting together to eat each other out.”

“Yeah, okay,” Gilbert agreed tiredly, switching his camera on. “Hey, pretend to do work so I can take a photo, you're good at not actually doing work.” After a quick swat to his arm, Elizaveta took a notebook and a pen from her bag, and set it on the table, beginning to write on a fresh page. “Thanks,” he grinned, turning the camera to show her the photograph. He was quite a natural for taking a good shot. The angle was flattering, the lighting was already gorgeous...

“No problem,” Elizaveta nodded, fixing her hair with her free hand while she looked at his work. “Why did you want my picture?” Gilbert shrugged, wheeling through the camera's modes with the 'twirly chooser'.

“Cause, well, work is what I think of when I think of school, and I think of you too. We've always been in school together, it would be weird without you.”

Elizaveta's expression softened as he spoke, and a light smile took over.  
“That's sweet, Gil,” she nodded. “You're right...”

“What were you writing?” He asked, leaning over the table to grab her book. “'Gilbert has a tiny dick.' You bitch.”

“Love you too,” she winked without a second thought, snatching her book back, and putting it neatly in her bag. “How's your week been?”

“Not bad, I guess,” he shrugged. “I'm second in command of yearbook, which is pretty cool.”

“It is! Well done, Gilbert, that's great!” She exclaimed. “Think you can get the swim team a nice feature?”

“Maybe if you actually win something.”

“Oh, fuck you!” That earned an ignored glare from a nearby table. “We won the regional title last year, and our team is even better this year.”

“Speaking of, I hear you're coaching now,” Gilbert said, derailing a potential dispute. You did _not_ tease Elizaveta about swimming, it didn't end well for anyone.

“I am, on Wednesday evenings. Oh, yeah, do you know a Basch Zwingli?” His brow creased at how her eyes lit up as she spoke his name.

 

“Yeah, I do. Why?”

“Don't just leave it there! How do you know him, what do you know?”  
Gilbert did not respond for a moment. Instead, he leaned back in his chair, never breaking his eyes from hers. He finally answered.

“Are you coaching him? He doesn't seem the type.”

“No, but I'm coaching his little sister. Now stop answering questions with other questions, tell me how you know him.” Elizaveta's voice had taken a demanding tone, and Gilbert decided to give in. Apparently, this wasn't a joking subject either.

“He used to be friends with Roderich,” Gilbert shrugged. “That's all I know.” He bit the inside of his cheek hard when her shoulders slumped in disappointment. “Try asking Roderich. I mean, I know you guys aren't the best of friends or whatever, but he'll know more about him than I do.”

Elizaveta nodded slowly. “Good point. Think fast!” Before the last word was out of her mouth, she too a rather startled photo of Gilbert.

“What the fuck?”

“It's school. The photo represents the shock of a pop quiz. I should be a pro.”

 

 

The cameras were returned, and there was a study period. On the way to her locker, Elizaveta sent Natalia a text.

“ _I'll be at the library in 5 minutes, need to talk to someone first.”_

By the time she had shuffled the contents of the bag and her locker Natalia had responded with a frowny face, and two centipede emojis. Elizaveta slipped her phone back into the pocket of her green jeans, and made her way to a part of the school she rarely ventured to; the music corridor.

Roderich was a musician. First violin in the school's symphony orchestra, and in the city's youth orchestra, his music was his pride, so where else would he spend a study period?  
The practice rooms were not completely soundproofed, making it easy for Elizaveta to hear the low lament of a violin. She knocked rhythmically on the door, hesitation striking a moment too late when the violin fell silent. Her hands slipped casually into the pockets of her slim fitting hoodie, and the door opened.

Roderich was about a head taller than Elizaveta, just a little shorter than Gilbert. His brow furrowed into a frown at the sight of Elizaveta, lips pursed.

“Can I help you?” He asked haughtily.

“Yeah, actually. You could get off your high fucking horse an- Wait, no!” Elizaveta caught the door before he could close it on her. “I need your help.”

“I'm busy,” he grumbled from behind the half closed door.

“So am I, but it won't take a minute. Promise.” After a moment, the door opened, and Elizaveta rushed in before he had time to change his mind.

 

The practise rooms were small, enough room for two tables, two chairs, a music stand and an upright piano to be tightly squeezed in. Roderich had sat himself on one chair by one of the tables, upon which his violin sat in it's case like the Crown Jewels. Elizaveta perched herself on the other table.

“Do you know Basch Zwingli?” She could see his mouth twitch.

“No.”

“Well, Gilbert says you used to be friends with him.”

“Oh, yes, because Gilbert knows _everything_ about me,” Roderich sneered. “Yes, Basch and I were close when we were boys, but that was a long time ago. End of story.” Elizaveta's head tilted slightly, her legs crossing at the ankles.

“What happened?” She asked. Roderich looked to her.

“Why are you so interested?” God, this family asked a _lot_ of questions. “I cannot imagine you coming to me without it being important.”

“It's just not often that I don't know who someone is,” she shrugged.

“If you do not know him, then how do know his name, and how do you know enough to have Gilbert lead you to me for information?” Fuck, he was good. Tricking Roderich was a talent, it took work.

“I've heard his name around recently,” she half-lied. She'd heard it from Natalia, after all.

“Then why not ask one of those people? I am the last person you would ask, if you were given a choice.”

“Well, they didn't know much, so-”

“Elizaveta,” he interrupted her. “People do not talk of people they know little about, and if they do talk, they make up lies to fill in the blanks.” He paused to allow her to continue, but her jaw was clenched. “Anyone in the school could have lied to you about Basch Zwingli, but you came to me for the truth. Why?” He should be an interrogator. Elizaveta raised her hands in surrender.

“Fine. His sister is one of the kids in the swim class I help out with. He picks her up, and I haven't seen him around much. He got my interest.” She slid off the desk, and adjusted the strap of her bag. “Thanks for the tiny bit of information, though. See you later.” Her hand was on the door handle when he called for her to wait. Her back to him, she took a moment to smirk before turning. “Yes?”

His eyes were on the violin, thumb tracing the smooth carvings on the body.

“He lives on the opposite side of town from us, up near Whitestone.” Elizaveta sat down again, brows raised.

“So, he's fucking loaded?” A smile came to Roderich's face for the first time that day.

“To put it bluntly, yes, he is. His father is a banker, his mother is a biochemist. I know that he's taking French this year, I know that he's often in the math and science corridors from a couple of people in orchestra. Anything else I know is likely outdated.” Roderich looked up to meet her gaze. “Was that helpful?”

“Very,” she grinned, standing once more. “Thanks! I'll see you later.”

“Wait. Before you go... favour for a favour?” Elizaveta paused at his proposition.

“Sure, what's up?”

“Well...” He cleared his throat. “What can you tell me about Natalia Arlovskaya?”

Shit. Did he know they were friends? Had they slipped up, and let the secret out?  
That wasn't the main issue. Despite the denial, Elizaveta could see that Natalia liked Roderich. Did she break their façade and tell Roderich she was wonderful, or lie, and ruin Natalia's chances.  
Her chances with Elizaveta's ex-boyfriend.  
Did they count as exes, though? Yes, they dated, but the circumstances were different. And it wasn't like Roderich wasn't a nice enough guy, it was just...  
Oh well, sisters before misters.

“I don't like her. Not one bit.” The lie came naturally, it was one Elizaveta had told countless times, and it was a concrete fact amongst the students. “But, she's popular. Friends don't come from being a bitch to everyone. Try talking to her, see how it goes.”  
Roderich opened his mouth to answer back, paused, and instead, simply nodded.

“Thank you.” He bought it.

“I promise I won't treat you like shit if you date her,” Elizaveta winked, laughing quietly as he rolled his eyes.

“I'm still trying to figure that out. The... who I should be dating issue.”   
He gained a sympathetic nod from Elizaveta.

“You can like both, you know. Or all, or one, or none.”

“Not in my father's opinion,” Roderich reminded her. “You have it easy.”  
She snorted with laughter.

“Sure, my daddy flirts with and threatens my boyfriends in equal amount.”

“I remember,” he grimaced.

“Hey, it was a good test of your sexuality! My daddy is a fine looking man, an-”

“Goodbye, Elizaveta,” he interrupted loudly.

“Bye, Roderich!” She called back to him cheerily, rushing out of the door which shut loudly behind her.  
Back to the library.

 

 

The visit had taken a little longer than the five minutes promised to Natalia, but she was still in the library in time to make the most of her study period, in a way. She carefully selected her computer, a few rows from Natalia's, but still positioned where she could see the other. Elizaveta logged onto the computer, and signed into her personal email account. An email from Natalia arrived only minutes ago.

“ _What's taking you so long?_  
Are you fucking teachers for grades again?  
It's only the first week

_-Natalia”_

Elizaveta bit her lip to stop herself laughing, and sent a response.

“ _That was a vicious rumour that was only half true._  
No, I had to talk to someone.  
-Elizaveta”

She checked the rest of her emails, mostly junk, a couple of things about group projects, one about early morning swim practices recommencing. It wasn't long before she had a second email from Natalia. One word this time.

“ _Who?”_

'Rude,' Elizaveta thought to herself, before responding once again.

“ _Roderich.”_

A word for a word, right? She had barely enough time to open the browser when her phone buzzed in her pocket. She slipped it out, checking the screen. Natalia? Elizaveta looked up in time to see the other girl putting her bag over her shoulder, and turning to leave.

“ _Meet me in the toilets near my locker”_

The phone was returned to the pocket, and Elizaveta took her time signing out of her email and the computer before she slowly began to walk to the toilets. She would take just long enough that no-one would assume she was with Natalia; the halls were near enough empty, but it was a precaution.

She pushed open the toilet door, and found Natalia waiting, fixing her lip tint in the mean time. The door swung shut, and Elizaveta went to the furthest sink from Natalia to check her reflection in the wall mirror.

“Empty?” Elizaveta asked.

“Yeah. What were you guys talking about?”

“We spoke about what a bitch you are, an-”

“Erzsi!”

“Okay, sorry! Listen, I need to know, do you like him?”  
Natalia looked away, down to the small make-up pouch in her bag where she busied herself by aimlessly examining the few items inside. “Nat, Roderich and I went out for the wrong reasons, we didn't like each other, so don't worry about hurting me. Do you like him?”

Natalia sighed.  
“A bit, yeah,” she confessed.

“Good. I think he likes you too.” Elizaveta grinned when Natalia shot her a curious look. “He was asking me about you.”

“Wait,” Natalia interrupted. “He asked _you_ about _me_? Does he know we're friends?”   
Elizaveta shook her head.

“No. I think he just knows that we know each other, 'cause he was fine with my explanation. I told him he should get to know you.”   
Natalia smiled a barely visible, but genuine smile.

“Thanks. Did he actually ask you to meet up just to talk about me?”

“Well, no. I asked Gilbert about Basch, and he said he used to be best friends with Roderich, so I went to find him. He isn't hard to track down.”

“They _used_ to be friends?” Natalia repeated, clearly interested. “What happened there, then?” She clicked her tongue in disappointment when her question was answered with a shrug.

“No idea, Roderich wouldn't say. Just that they weren't friends now. So, obviously, drama went down.”  
Natalia nodded, agreeing with Elizaveta's reasoning.

“We'll find out. Especially if you're into Basch, and I'm into Roderich... Oh, Elizaveta Zwingli!”

“No!” Elizaveta insisted. “Don't you start that, Natalia Edelstein. We should start going back to the library.”

“Natalia Edelstein... It sounds nice...”

“Please go into wedding planning.”

 


End file.
